As a child, this writer remembers role playing as a fireman or a race car driver. My friends and I would wear our plastic helmets and raingear and pretended for hours on end that we were fighting a fire in a high rise building, or hopping on our pedal powered go-karts and raced along the streets of our community.
These thoughts came to mind after Honda Cars Philippines Inc in cooperation with Kidzania, recently launched a program aimed at building family values and development of kids by providing an environment on which they can have an idea of what their future holds for them. Situated at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Kidzania is an interactive and educational environment designed for kids to discover, explore and learn about the adult World by way of simulated and exciting role playing activities. Kidzania Manila was established based on letting kids visualize an ideal World on how to be a contributory factor in community development.
Honda created an interactive World that would let kids simulate creating, designing and selling automobiles in an easy and fun way. “Honda is committed to support such activities that will cultivate family values and hard work. With the Honda Design, Dealership and Honda Pit Crew modules, Honda will somehow aid in developing the next generation and to encourage the children to start building their dreams,” explains Toshio Kuwahara, President and GM of HCPI.
The media were given an up close and personal tour of the Honda Kidzania experience and I must admit that this generation is lucky to have this facility at their disposal. The Honda Car Design monitor gave kids a fun way to design the cars of their imagination and what features they would like to include in the design. One kid even designed a solar powered car with six wheels. Others opted for the Honda Dealership portion where a professional staff assisted kids on how to demonstrate the features of a car and how to recommend a Honda vehicle that suits the requirements of the buyer.
The module that got my juices flowing was the Honda Pit Crew Training facility. With a child-spec Honda Formula One replica car as their disposal, kids were given an idea of how a race car is prepped with actual kid friendly tools designed to simulate a tire change, refueling and how to strap in a race car driver. “Honda believes that the Power of Dreams drives to create intelligent products to enhance mobility and increase the joy in people’s lives,” adds Kuwahara.
As a brand known for reliability and innovative design, Honda is developing and participating in activities that will promote and encourage strong family ties and Filipino values. The Honda Kidzania experience is a fun and exciting way to develop the next generation of race engineers, race car drivers, designers and sales executives.